LIVE STATS FOR ALL TOURNAMENT GAMES / HPU BOX SCORE / POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH MEGGIE BURKETT
FARMERS BRANCH, Texas – To say the Lady Cats' American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament opener was filled with peaks and valleys might be an understatement. Louisiana College softball team had the game well in hand for six innings, gave up a five-run lead in the seventh inning then rallied to defeat Howard Payne 10-9 in walkoff fashion.

The game started with a thud for LC (26-11) as Howard Payne leadoff Katie Poerner homered off Leslie Eatham.

The Lady Cats' rallied to outscore the Yellow Jackets 8-2 from the bottom of the first through the sixth inning.

In the top of the seventh, though, Howard Payne (19-20) scored six runs to take a 9-8 lead.

With just two outs remaining, LC shortstop Daniele Wilson reached on an error by Howard Payne third baseman Evangelina Tellez. Designated player Laura Gulotta-Parrish followed with a single.

An errant throw by Howard Payne allowed Gulotta-Parrish to advance to second and Wilson to third.

In the following at-bat, LC first baseman Emily Douglas got a sacrifice fly to right field to score Wilson. Gulotta-Parrish was able to score and win the game for the Lady Cats on the throw.

Douglas finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBI and Gulotta-Parrish 2-for-4.

Lady Cats left fielder and leadoff Meggie Burkett went 2-for-5 with two runs scored,  sophomore second baseman Stephanie Jaeger 3-for-4 with a run scored and senior right fielder Cassie DeCoste 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Rudi Aycock (6-3), pitching in relief of both Eastham and Tori Davis, after pitching the last inning and allowing a single earned run.

Howard Payne relief pitcher Haleigh Caraway took the loss after entering the game with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

Caraway went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Poerner 1-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI to pace the Yellow Jacket offense.

Louisiana College advanced to play ASC West champ Mary Hardin-Baylor Saturday night.